Mito Castle - Domain School: Difference between revisions
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|CastleSubpageNameEnglish=Domain School | |CastleSubpageNameEnglish=Domain School | ||
|Castle=Mito Castle | |Castle=Mito Castle | ||
|CastleSubpageNameJse= | |CastleSubpageNameJse=水戸藩校弘道館 | ||
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|CastleSubpageText=Mito | |CastleSubpageText=Mito-hankō Kōdōkan (Mito, Ibaraki) 水戸藩校弘道館 ［茨城県水戸市］ | ||
The Mitogaku (Mito School) had immense importance in the creation of modern Japan and bringing about the Meiji Restoration; it was an ideological bulwark of Kokugaku (Nationalism) and Jukyō (Confucianism) erected against the defiling encroachment of the West. Mitogaku was the intellectual epicenter of the revolutionary Sonnō Jōi movement, which sought to overthrow the diminished Tokugawa regime and paved the way for the Meiji Restoration. | The Mitogaku (Mito School) had immense importance in the creation of modern Japan and bringing about the Meiji Restoration; it was an ideological bulwark of Kokugaku (Nationalism) and Jukyō (Confucianism) erected against the defiling encroachment of the West. Mitogaku was the intellectual epicenter of the revolutionary Sonnō Jōi movement, which sought to overthrow the diminished Tokugawa regime and paved the way for the Meiji Restoration. | ||
Latest revision as of 14:51, 25 September 2025
Mito-hankō Kōdōkan (Mito, Ibaraki) 水戸藩校弘道館 ［茨城県水戸市］ The Mitogaku (Mito School) had immense importance in the creation of modern Japan and bringing about the Meiji Restoration; it was an ideological bulwark of Kokugaku (Nationalism) and Jukyō (Confucianism) erected against the defiling encroachment
Mito Castle - Domain School
水戸藩校弘道館
Mito-hankō Kōdōkan (Mito, Ibaraki) 水戸藩校弘道館 ［茨城県水戸市］
The Mitogaku (Mito School) had immense importance in the creation of modern Japan and bringing about the Meiji Restoration; it was an ideological bulwark of Kokugaku (Nationalism) and Jukyō (Confucianism) erected against the defiling encroachment of the West. Mitogaku was the intellectual epicenter of the revolutionary Sonnō Jōi movement, which sought to overthrow the diminished Tokugawa regime and paved the way for the Meiji Restoration.
This is Kōdōkan, the Mitogaku’s headquarters. Tokugawa Nariaki, 9th Lord of Mito Domain, was a great reformer. Though he wanted to reform all of Japan to be competitive with the West, his jurisdiction was limited to his domain of Mito. He wanted Mito to lead the way in the transformation of the country (being one of the Tokugawa Go’sanke, or three Tokugawa family clans, Mito was certainly in a position to do so). It was Nariaki who established Kōdōkan in 1840 as the hankō (domain school) of the Mito Domain. This is the building which stands today, and its creation catapulted Mitogaku thought to the forefront of revolutionary politics.
The first head professor of Kōdōkan was Aizawa Seishisai, who coined the phrase 'Sonnō Jōi' and also helped compile the Dainihon-shi (Great History of Japan). In 1825 he wrote Shinron (The New Thesis), which discussed the threat of Western ships to the Tokugawa regime. Aizawa expounded new concepts such as Kokutai (National Polity) and a national religion of Japan to dispense with feudalism and transform Japan into a unified, centralised modern nation state.
The Meiji government ended up adopting much of his Nativist ideas, developing them into an ideology of Shintō supremacy, imperial divinity, and Japanese national character extending back thousands of years. As per Aizawa’s policy, Meiji forces engineered the greatest schism in the history of Japanese religion, separating out Buddhism from indigenous polytheism and re-making Shintō as the state religion, tearing at the country’s very soul in the march toward modernity.
Indeed, some scholars trace the moral justifications for aggressive expansion of the Japanese Empire and, along the way, the corruption of Bushidō, all the way back to the Mitogaku.
I hope I have impressed upon you the importance of this building of the late Edo period. Now I will explain about the school itself. Located in the outer bailey of Mito Castle, it is said that Kōdōkan was the largest hankō in Japan, owing to its intellectual reach and the size of the original site, although Kōdōkan as it remains today is the Seichō (main hall, 正庁) Shizendō (至善堂) , Seimon(entrance gate, 正門), school bell tower and walls; and the restored Sonshibyō (Confucian temple, 孔子廟) and Hattendō (Hall of Eight Trigrams, 八卦堂). Hankō often possessed Confucian shrines, and this is because the dominant philosophy amongst Bushi was Confucianism (and certainly not Zen, or even Bushidō).
Students attended the school from the age of 15, and there was no official graduation age. Students studied astronomy, Confucianism, history, mathematics, music, medicine and the military arts. Medicine, military and literary departments had whole dedicated campuses. The astronomy class was held on an elevated tumulus at the edge of the school grounds. The cleared ground before the main hall was for hosting kenjutsu practice and tournaments. Students also learnt how to wield spears, ride horses and conduct warfare in the arts wing.
The main hall was the Seichō. Examinations on literary arts were held here. Inside there is a hanging scroll, which reads 'Sonjō', a contracted version of the slogan 'Sonnō Jōi (“Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians”)'. This austere room was the Kōdōkan’s common room, and it also hosted guests to the school. Located nearby is the restored Confucian temple; the hall of eight trigrams, an octagonal hall; and the school bell tower.
I hope I have piqued your interest about Japan’s most famous clan school. The Kōdōkan is popular during plum blossom season due to the many plum trees planted around the school (because Nariaki loved plum blossoms).
Article and gallery by A R Turner.
Gallery
